Tess from Withflaws.com got in contact with us over the weekend. She was going to be photographing Fearless Vampire Killers at the launch party for their debut single ‘I Am Gonna Leave You’ and asked if we could come along to film it… which we did.

The weather was of course characteristically atrocious, which meant that the two support bands were delayed on account of the fact that they had to sail to Camden. We were lucky – as we were coming from North London it was a downhill journey, so the tide carried us quite comfortably. Eventually everyone arrived, wringing themselves off and shaking the clogged water from their ears, as the support bands began to sound-check/play their sets at the same time.

This was the first time we’d seen Fearless Vampire Killers play and they blew us away – the energy they put into their performance was unbelievable. Clearly they were enjoying themselves, which surely is what it’s all supposed to be about, right?

Filming was great fun and frankly we were spoilt for choice when it came to editing it. It really is impossible to make a bad music video when the band are putting on such an energetic show. For your entertainment and critique, here’s the evidence…

Last weekend we went against every piece of advice that the weather reports had to offer and traveled North. Luckily the rain stayed off…UNTIL WE STARTED SHOOTING, but that didn’t dampen our spirits (another perfect pun brought to you by Salad Daze Films). We couldn’t have hoped to have met a more likable, accommodating bunch of people than we did last weekend (thanks for the packed lunch, Fay!), and they really made the video every bit as exciting as we’d hoped.

We wanted the video to reflect the raw, D.I.Y. nature of the music but keep it as fun as possible. The Casual Terrorist invited his friends along to take part, which they must have started to regret come the fourth hour of frosty rainfall, but turn up they did, bringing enough energy along to keep AN ACTUAL PARTY going long after filming had wrapped. Unfortunately, we who must suffer for our art had to hit the A1 and couldn’t stick around, but we had an awful lot of fun during the day to make up for it.

The next day we were up at the crack of 10am to start editing. It was a painless process, and by the end of the day the offline edit was done. The next day we stayed after work at Blue Tuna HQ for the HD online and grade. Massive thank you to Steve at Blue Tuna/Shoot Blue for equipment and post-production facilities.

We’re planning another trip back up North for a premiere/gig night at the Star and Shadow Cinema in Newcastle. For now though, here it is…

We were listening to some moron on XFM this morning asking who the best villain was out of The Joker and Darth Vader. Clearly the correct answer is Darth Vader, yet somehow this imbecile awarded the title to The Joker, prompted by some Generic Idiot Who Phones Morning Radio Stations, who won himself some tasteless prize for his juvenile, short-sighted suggestion.

Below is the CORRECT LIST OF FILM VILLAINS. There are only ten. This list is final and irrefutable.

10. Jud (Billy Casper’s brother), Kes (1970)

There will be no arguments. Jud is responsible for some of the most utterly heart-wrenching, tear-inducing moments in film history. A total arsehole.

9. The Islanders of Summerisle, The Wicker Man (1973)
You could argue that it was actually Sergeant Howie who was the real villain in The Wicker Man. You’d be wrong. The population of an entire island who for any reason collectively consider it acceptable to burn people alive is incredibly strange. To go as far as enjoying the burning as part of a religious tradition is even stranger. Hence, collectively, they are more villainous than one single character.

8. John Doe, Se7en (1995)

John Doe is surely the most intelligent villain in Cinema. Being caught and killed to prove that your twisted murders had a logical point is totally evil. Note use of the word evil and not insane; being an insane criminal isn’t really an achievement. Being evil is worth writing about.

7. The White Witch, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)

Laugh all you like but The White Witch was responsible for one hundred years of snow-based, Christmas-less dictatorship. She turned creatures to stone for having hope. That’s very cold, if you’ll excuse the blatant yet perfect pun.

6. Hitler, Triumph of The Will (1935)

Hitler plays himself in a Nazi propaganda documentary that led to the death of at least fifty-million people. Enough said.

5. Sauron, The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King (2003)

Here is a thought for you to stew on, dear readers: just think – what if he had arms and legs?* Seriously, if just his massive burning eye can be a totally evil antagonist for three hugely successful epic adventure films then Sauron’s power is surely something to be reckoned with. Our focus (another superb and deliberate pun) is on Sauron in the final LOTR film, The Return of The King in particular because it is here that we see the culmination of his evil and what it takes for the people if Middle Earth to finally defeat him.

*Let’s nip this one in the bud; we are fully aware that we do see the embodiment of a younger Sauron in LOTR: The Return of The King. Remember that this Sauron was basically all powerful and only lost the ring in a stroke of luck/fate. If he could grow new arms and legs now he’d be even harder. Finito.

4. Global Warming, An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

Global Warming is the current ongoing major issue in the Western World. This generation’s Great Depression or Great War, if you will. The worst part is that Global Warming, if you ‘believe’ in it, is completely self-inflicted, or self-perpetuated if we’re being semantic and pedantic. That’s why Global Warming is Number 4 in this list. Is Al Gore able to save us, “serially”?

3. The Baddy from The Exorcist (1975)

The Baddy, aka Pazuzu, is infamous. People have allegedly killed themselves because of how frightening this film is, and yet for almost all of the film we don’t even see the character! That’s how damn terrifyingly evil it is. Pazuzu claims in the film to actually be Satan. The fact that it isn’t makes the situation all the more scary because it’s so unknown to us as viewers.

2. Darth Sidious, Star Wars (Episodes III, IV, V & VI), (1977-2005)

Obviously far more villainous than Darth Vader, Darth Sidious is the mastermind leading The Dark Side in Episodes III – VI. Unrelentlessly evil throughout, as opposed to Vader, who eventually sees the error of his ways, Darth Sidious is absolutely the most horrible bastard in Space.

1. Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire (2005)

In Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire we see for the first time Lord Voldemort returning to his former strength, and my goodness he’s horrible. Just utterly, utterly callous. He has literally no respect for life other than his own, only hatred and, at best, disregard. The fact that he only appears for a short while in this film makes his brooding presence all the more potent, as it sets up for the next film with a feeling of “Yes, Lord Voldemort is back. Get ready to have your knickerbockers blown the hell off!” If wizards are real, then someone like Lord Voldemort could still never come to be – he is beyond reality in how terrible he is.

Special Mention: Mickey and Mallory Knox, Natural Born Killers (1994)

We thought it fair to give Mickey and Mallory Knox a mention because, although they aren’t bad enough to make the list, they do receive massive bonus points for being the protgonists in the film, i.e. the ones we’re all rooting for. Watching these characters destroy the world around them for no good reason, then cheering for them to do it, is what makes them so special to us.

First post in a while here, but as nobody knows the blog exists at the moment it shouldn’t affect anyone too seriously. Apologies to those of you true enough to have sat at your computers/laptops/iPhones, tenderly clasping their monitors/track pads/touch sensitive screens as you await this post. My sincerest respect will be delivered to you as soon as the Postal Strike ends.

Also.

I recently stumbled upon a record shop in Camden, within which I stumbled further still into a shelf proudly hosting a CD by someone called The Casual Terrorist. Since I’m one to judge all things by the cover of the paperback I happen to be reading at the time I decided to buy it. (The paperback in question was Charles Bukowski’s Ham on Rye – well worth photocopying the cover of to hang in place of your bathroom mirror. Black and white is fine but colour preferable).

THUMBS UP, BOYS! It’s a really bloody good album. It’s called Love, Cigarettes and Anarchism and contains a nutritious mix of punk, anti-folk (whatever on Earth that is) and plenty of social, political and economic justice in the medium of song. I’ll leave further reviews to the professionals and mustardly-keen amateurs, whose opinions can be found on The Casual Terrorist’s Myspace page: www.myspace.com/thecasualterrorist

So a few weeks after listening to the CD about a million times (yeah LITERALLY) I decided to write to The Casual Terrorist, aka CJ, which is short, I believe, for Christian James, asking whether he was interested in us making a music video for him. He said “yes” and so in (hopefully) November a small crew of us will travel the life-consuming trip up the A1 to Newcastle to film the video for the track Anarchists make better lovers. (You can listen to it on the myspace link above).

Keep an eye out on this blog (I will be writing more regularly) for updates on the progress of the video.

Our website went live the other day, and we’re currently in the process of uploading our work. We did consider leaving the sample videos of Ian Rush talking about youth level football, but in the end decided that videos of Scrabble-playing clowns and spaghetti fetishes were far more appropriate.

Excitement is certainly brewing, as is the tea, of which I have clearly overdosed on as I beaver away putting the finishing touches on to the site. There was a black moment where a video somehow uploaded with the audio out of sync, but it was swiftly solved by re-uploading at a slightly lesser bit rate, huzzah! A simply perfect metaphor would have been the tea that brewed for too long, but which was still salvageable by using slightly more milk than normal… yes.

There is a link to the site on the links section of our blog, but for the sake of perseverance, pedantry and posterity, here it is again in all its magnificent glory… Salad Daze Films

The film and television industry is one of huge, unsubstantiated egos. Of backstabbing, underhand deals and general idiocy. It’s frankly sickening. People think this world is glamourous because the people who are part of it pretend that it is.

This is our attempt to dodge that crap. No bullshit, no lies, no faux success. Just us, doing what we love.

We love making music videos, so that’s what we do. We also love it when clubs want us to cover one of their nights. Or when a company wants to try something different, who want a promotional film that’s more than just an inoffensive glance at what they do.

This is Salad Daze Films, kicking and screaming through your television.